UPDATE: Man shot to death at Pontiac gas station after dispute over possible panhandling

A trail of blood led deputies to a 33-year-old Pontiac resident Sunday night after a confrontation ended in gunshots outside a Pontiac strip mall.

Nils Vickstrom was shot to death while running away from a Pontiac business near University Drive and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Vickstrom was a panhandler, Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies said.

Vickstrom was believed to have been panhandling in front of a strip mall before becoming “involved in an altercation with the store owner of the Amusement Cafe,” according to a Sheriff’s Office press release. The altercation and subsequent shooting occurred in the parking lot of the shopping mall in the 600 block of University, at Martin Luther King Boulevard in Pontiac.

The Auburn Hills Police Department had contact with Vickstrom earlier in the day for panhandling in their city, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

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Employees in the area say they’re unsure what could’ve happened to make a local business owner pull a gun on the man.

Deputies report that a 35-year-old man from Troy is in custody at the Oakland County Jail following the shooting, but information on what caused the business owner to allegedly open fire on the man was not available Monday afternoon. The suspect has a valid concealed pistol license and has no prior criminal history.

Investigators hope to present the case to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday. Anyone with any information on the incident is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 248-858-4911.

Pontiac resident Nicole Harrold, a Rite Aid employee who locked up the store Sunday night, said she saw the aftermath of the shooting play out in front of her.

“I heard three banging sounds around 7:30 (p.m.),” said Harrold, whose store looks out at the strip mall on University Drive. “I didn’t think anything of it.”

However, five minutes later, Harrold said she saw a swarm of patrol cars and ambulances converge on the intersection and begin to shut the streets down with yellow caution tape.

“Customers told me there was a guy begging — or stealing, I’m not sure — outside of the casino across the street,” said Harrold.

The “casino” the Rite Aid employee was referencing is an establishment called Reel Amusement. The sign on the business describes it as a sweepstakes cafe.

According to customers Harrold talked to, “the owner asked him to leave, and he ran across the street and was shot at the Mobil. They said he got shot in the back and the hand.”

While response times are quick, said Harrold, she and her coworkers see panhandlers around the intersection often.

“We ask them to leave all the time,” she said. “We called on a guy a few days ago. He came into the store and asked for a loan, then started bothering customers, not respecting personal space.”

She said the man went across the street near the In-N-Out Store on University, where Sheriff’s deputies picked him up.

Deputies “usually come right away,” Harrold said.

Pontiac resident Richard Gilmore said panhandling is a problem in the city, but he doesn’t get scared when people approach him and ask for money.

“The answer’s just ‘no,’ then I keep it moving,” Gilmore said. “They’re everywhere.”

Mail carrier Veronica Wieczorek agrees.

“I deliver this area every day,” she said, standing in the strip mall parking lot Monday. “I see a lot of people over here at the Mobil doing it.”

It doesn’t just happen there, though, added Wieczorek. The Pontiac post office sees many people standing in front of the business holding signs, she said.

Another heavy traffic area for people doing the same is the intersection of University and M-59, she said. At the traffic light there, “they come running right to the car,” she added. “It’s scary.”

She said she doesn’t report panhandling to local business owners, she just gets back into her truck and goes about her business.

“Some businesses have signs that say, ‘No panhandling,’” she said. She said she doesn’t see a whole lot of regulation when it comes to local panhandlers.

Rite Aid worker Lorrie Sargent said she thinks the city is safer, thanks to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

“When the Sheriff’s Office took over, they got quicker,” said Sargent.

Pontiac man Gilmore — who lives in the Harrington Hills neighborhood — said sometimes local business owners call the police when panhandlers bother their customers. He recalls a good response.

“When you call the county, they’re coming,” he said.

According to Undersheriff Michael McCabe, further information into the homicide investigation could become available this afternoon.